Justice Gorsuch, writing for the majority in McGirt v. Oklahoma, said today: "Unlawful acts, performed long enough and with sufficient vigor, are never enough to amend the law. To hold otherwise would be to elevate the most brazen and longstanding injustices over the law, both rewarding wrong and failing those in the right."
I agree with both the Court's decision in McGirt and Justice Gorsuch's statement. Fifteen years ago, Justice Breyer, who signed on to Justice Gorsuch's opinion, had a different view in Van Orden v. Perry (2005). Justice Breyer concurred in the judgement in Van Orden, joining four Christian nationalist justices in holding that a 1961 Fraternal Order of Eagles Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol did not violate the Establishment Clause because it had been on the Capitol grounds for 44 years.
In other words, in Van Orden, Justice Breyer opined that a wrong (i.e., a religious monument on public property) should be allowed to stay (i.e., go uncorrected) because the passage of time is an alchemy for making a wrong right (or, simply, let sleeping dogs lie). Hypocrisy at its finest -- in the Supreme Court of the United States.
Bottom line: the Van Orden v. Perry decision is a blatant example of Christian privilege and needs to be reversed. It has resulted in 120 Eagles Ten Commandments monuments remaining on public property in violation of the First Amendment.
By: Robert V. Ritter, Founder, Jefferson Madison Center for Religious Liberty, July 9, 2020
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